1– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘The world has been named dunya because it is lower than every thing, and the Hereafter has been named Akhira because it contains recompense and reward.’[‘Allal al-Sharai’a, v. 2, no. 1]

5– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Verily Allah – glory be to Him – has made this world for what is after it and has put its inhabitants to trial so that He may know who from among them has the best deeds, and we have not been created for this world, nor have we been commanded to strive for it.’[Nahjul Balaghah, Letter 55]

9– Imam Ali (a.s.) said to a man who complained regarding his needs, ‘Know that everything that you attain in this world that supersedes your required provision, you are considered to be its treasurer for someone else.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 73, p. 90, no. 61]

11– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘The world is the abode of the hypocrites and it is not the abode of the pious ones, so take from the world enough to keep your body strong, to keep yourself alive and to gain provision for your Resurrection.’[Matalib al-Sa’ul, no. 54]

16– The Prophet (S) said, ‘Do not insult the world for it is the best mount for the believer, because by means of it he attains good and through it he is saved from evil. If a servant [of Allah] says: “May Allah curse the world”, the world replies: “May Allah curse the most disobedient one towards his Lord from among us!”.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 77, p. 178, no. 10]

17– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘O you who insult the world, who have been deceived by its deceit and cheated by its falsities, do you covet the world and then insult it? Should you accuse it or should it accuse you? When did it bewilder it or deceive you?!… Verily the world is an abode of truth for he who is truthful to it, an abode of wellbeing for he who understands it, and an abode of riches for he who collects provision from it [for the next world].’[Nahjul Balaghah, Saying.131]

29– Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) said, ‘The one who attaches his heart to the world has attached his heart to three things, endless worry, false expectation and an unattainable hope.’[al-Kafi, v. 2, p. 320, no. 17]

33– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Verily your world to me is more worthless than a leaf being gnawed at in the mouth of a locust. What has Ali got to do with perishable things?!’[Sharh Nahjul Balaghah li Ibn Abi al-Hadid, v. 11, p. 246]

36– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Beware of the world, for verily with regards to its lawful things there is accountability and with regards to its unlawful things there is punishment, its beginning is hardship and its end is annihilation.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 78, p. 23, no. 88]

37– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Beware of this deceptive and deceitful world that has been beautified by its ornaments and has seduced through its delusions… such that it has become like an unveiled bride upon whom everyone’s eyes are gazing.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 73, p. 108, no. 109]

39– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Beware of the world, for verily it is the enemy of the friends of Allah and the enemy of His enemies too. As for the friends of Allah, it fills them with grief and as for Allah’s enemies, it deludes them.’[Nahj al-Sa’ada, v. 3, p. 202]

42– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘It is deceitful, and all that is in it is deceptive. It is perishable and all that is on it will perish. There is no good in any of its provisions except in piety and Godwariness.’[Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 111]

46– Imam Ali (a.s.) with regards to Allah’s verse: “Under it there was a treasure belonging to them”, said, ‘that (the treasure) was a golden tablet upon which was written… : I wonder at those who see the world and the fluctuating states that people experience, how can they be satisfied with it?’[Ma’ani al-Akhbar, p. 200, no. 1]

47– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Look at the world through the eyes of those who have renounced it, for verily its inhabitants are quick to depart it and its opulence inflicts distress. So do not allow the abundance of what amazes you therein to deceive you, for it is but a little that you will take with you thereof.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 78, p. 20, no. 79]

48– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘View the world through the eyes of one who has renounced it and separated from it, and do not view it through the eyes of one who loves it passionately and tenderly.’[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 2386]

50– Luqman (a.s.) said in counsel to his son, ‘Sell your world for your Hereafter and you will attain both of them, but do not sell your Hereafter for your world for you will lose them both.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 13, p. 422, no. 17]

52– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘No sooner do people abandon an aspect of their religion in order to advance their worldly affairs than Allah will inflict them with something that is more detrimental than that.’[Nahjul Balaghah, Saying 106]

54– Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) said, ‘The world is the prison of the believer, the grave is his fortress and Paradise is his final abode. The world is the Paradise of the disbeliever, the grave is his prison and the Fire is his final abode.’[al-Khisal, p. 108, no. 74]

56– Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) said, ‘The person who wakes up in the morning and retires at night having worldly affairs as his greatest concern, Allah places poverty between his eyes, scatters his affairs, and he will not take from this world except what Allah has apportioned for him. As for the one who wakes up in the morning and retires at night having the Hereafter as his greatest concern, Allah places needlessness in his heart and brings together his affairs for him.’[al-Kafi, v. 2, p. 319, no. 15]

58– The Prophet (S) said, ‘If the world was worth the same as the wing of a mosquito in Allah’s eyes, the disbeliever and the insolent person would never get to drink a sip of water from it.’[Amali al-Tusi, p. 531, no. 1162]

59– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘The lowliness of the world in Allah’s eyes can be seen by the fact that He is not disobeyed except in it, and what is with Him cannot be attained except by abandoning the world.’[Nahjul Balaghah, Saying 385]

60– Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) said, ‘Verily the lowliness of this world in Allah’s eyes can be seen by the fact that the head of Prophet John, son of Prophet Zacharias was gifted to a whore from the whores of the Israelites.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 44, p. 365]

62– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Verily the world and the Hereafter are two opposing enemies and two different paths, so whoever loves and befriends the world has despised the Hereafter and has made it his enemy. They [the world and the Hereafter] are like the east and the west and whoever walks between them, however much he gets closer to one, he distances himself from the other. After all, they are like two wives of the same husband.’[Nahjul Balaghah, Saying 103]

68– Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) said, ‘The last prophet to enter paradise will be Solomon [Prophet Solomon (a.s.) is known as Sulayman in the Arabic tradition (ed.)] son of David (a.s.) due to what he was given in this world.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 14, p. 74, no. 16]

69– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Wealth and children are the cultivation of the world and righteous deeds are the cultivation of the Hereafter, and sometimes Allah combines the two for people.’[Nahj al-Sa’ada, v. 3, p. 127]

70– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘If you make your religion secondary to your worldly affairs, you have destroyed both your religion and your worldly affairs, and thus you will be among the losers in the Hereafter. But if you make your worldly affairs secondary to your religion, you have safeguarded your religion and your worldly affairs and you will be among the victorious ones in the Hereafter.’[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 3750-3751]

71– Imam al-Kazim (a.s.) said, ‘Allocate for yourselves a portion of the world by taking from it that which is lawful of what you desire, and that which does not breach the honourable virtues and that wherein there is no extravagance. And in this way, use it to assist [and improve] the matters of religion, for it has been narrated that, ‘The one who abandons their worldly affairs for their religion is not from us, and neither is the one who abandons their religion for their worldly affairs.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 78, p. 321, no. 18]

73– Imam al-Kazim (a.s.) said, ‘The parable of this world is like that of a snake, it is soft to touch but it contains a deadly poison. Men of intellect are cautious whereas children extend their arms towards it.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 78, p. 311, no. 1]

75– Imam al-Kazim (a.s.) said, ‘The world was embodied to Jesus (a.s.) in the form of a blue-eyed woman, and he said to her, ‘How many have you married?’ she said, ‘Lots’, so he asked, ‘So all of them divorced you?’, she replied, ‘No, rather I killed all of them’, then Jesus (a.s.) said, ‘Woe upon your current spouses, for how do they not take a lesson from your previous ones?!’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 78, p. 311, no. 1]

76– It is narrated in Tanbih al-Khawatir that the archangel Gabriel (a.s.) said to Prophet Noah (a.s.), ‘O prophet who has lived for the longest number of years, how did you find this world?’ he replied, ‘Like a house which has two doors, I entered through one and then left through the other.’[Tanbih al-Khawatir, v. 1, p. 131]

81– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘O people, verily the world is a passage while the Hereafter is a permanent abode, so take [as much as you can] from the passage for the permanent abode.’[Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 203]

82– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘This world is a transitory place and not a permanent one. The people therein are of two types, the man who has sold his self [to his passions] and thus ruined it, and the man who has purchased his self [by control against his passions] and thus freed it.’[Nahjul Balaghah, Saying 133]

83– Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) said, ‘[Consider] your sojourn in this world just as a house that you stayed in and [soon] departed from, or an object of perfection that you witnessed in a dream then you awoke and not a thing from it remained with you. I have given you this parable because this world, according to the people of intellect and knowledge of Allah, is just as the shadow in the shade.’[al-Kafi, v. 2, p. 133, no. 16]

85– Imam al-Kazim (a.s.) said, ‘Luqman said to his son:…the world is a deep ocean in which many worlds have already drowned, so make Godwariness your boat, faith its content, trust in Allah its sail, reason its custodian, knowledge its guide and patience its inhabitants.’[al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 16, no. 12]

86– Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘[The world] is a house surrounded by trials, well-known for treachery, whose conditions do not last, whose inhabitants do not remain safe, its states are variable, its ways are changing, life in it is shameful and security in it is non-existent.’[Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 226]

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